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Bricolage Architecture

“Bricolage” refers to using the tools you have at hand to fiddle with and repair objects, or to make objects from what you already have, and to think and work in a “tinkerer” way. Patchwork, DIY, tinkering, etc., can be summarized as bricolage, which represents a thinking, attitude and method in human society, that is, to use ready-made tools and materials to solve real problems as much as possible. From the repair of objects to the appropriation of architectural components, all these are human social traditions that predate modernism. In architecture, from the reuse of stone masonry in the ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, to the architectural recycling of contemporary hippie communities, bricolage has always happened regardless of location.

Claude Lévi-Strauss emphasized an uncivilized, concrete way of thinking, which was not unique to savages. This concrete way of thinking manifests itself in a free, undomesticated bricolage way of thinking that likewise gives order to things. Unlike the rationality and control embodied in the logic of abstract thinking, bricolage is more of an accident and improvisation. “Tinkerers”, similar to savages, do not come up with new concepts to solve problems that have never been encountered before, but reassemble and modify existing tool materials to adapt to new situations.

In the field of architecture, Alison & Peter Smithson collaborated with artists Eduardo Paolozziand and Nigel Henderson as early as 1956 to hold the exhibition “Pavilion and Yard”, which expresses a reflection on the nature of living by constructing simple and original shacks and assembling waste objects from everyday life. Frank Gehry (Frank Gehry) renovated and expanded his house twice between 1977~1978 and 1991~1994, both of which were designed and built with simple and accessible materials, actively absorbing the various changes and possibilities in the renovation project. Lacaton & Vassal, on the other hand, can be seen as practitioners of bricolage, using minimal intervention in the renovation of Palais Tokyo to create a crude and unpretentious spatial effect, not out of a penchant for the aesthetics of ruins but out of practical considerations, with most of the budget spent on structural reinforcement and the addition of necessary facilities.

Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter show their fascination with the Roman city, where they see bricolage more as a relaxation of form and control of inner structure. Unlike postmodernist architects, the tinkerers of contemporary architecture do not seek a certain connection with culture through the appropriation of historical elements; Nor is it like Colin Rowe who seeks some usable structural rule from history. Irénée Scalbert pointed out a different direction, referring to Robinson Crusoe, the drifter given the image of a creator, using all the tools and materials at his disposal to maintain order in his world. For Irénée Scalbert, contemporary architects are like creators in primitive environments, with complete freedom to manipulate elements and materials, whether natural or artefact, when they no longer need to respond to certain ideologies and ideals.

Urban Village：Bricolage City

Informal Spaces in the Heart of a Metropolis

Since China’s reform and opening up in 1979, Shenzhen has rapidly evolved from a small fishing village to a megalopolis with a population of more than 20 million. In the heart of this megalopolis, there are still a large number of informal spaces – they are called “urban villages”. As of today, there are 1,024 urban villages in Shenzhen, and there are about 300,000 handshake buildings in these urban villages, and more than 10 million people currently live in them. These informal spaces are full of freedom and dynamism, similar to bricolage citys，but they are not formed according to formal urban planning and do not comply with architecture codes in many respects due to their extremely high spatial density.

In recent years, due to the large-scale urban renewal in full swing, urban villages are facing a comprehensive crisis: First, the aging phenomenon of urban villages is serious, a large number of young people are lost, and many urban villages have begun to slowly decay; Second, many buildings are in disrepair, municipal infrastructure is aging, and there are potential safety hazards in urban villages; Third, many urban villages have been demolished as a whole, and the land has been used for large-scale real estate development; Fourth, many urban villages have gradually transformed into tourist attractions, and a large number of commercial, office and high-end residential have been introduced into urban villages, and rents in urban villages have risen rapidly, and the phenomenon of gentrification has become very serious.

▼Xiasha Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Huanggang Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

From the Rural Houses to the Handshake Buildings

These informal spaces in the form of urban villages were scattered rural settlements in the early days, which were gradually wrapped in the surrounding rapidly developing urbanized areas, forming a unique spatial state similar to “amber”, between the city and the countryside. In the 1980s, a typical rural house was usually a two-storey brick-concrete building built by villagers on their homestead (covering an area of about 120 square meters). Later, with the rapid increase of immigration, the villagers began to continuously add and renovate their houses, and the increased floor area was used for renting out to obtain high rental income, and the locals figuratively called these rental houses “rental machines”.

In a sense, these villagers have become “tinkerers”, working with local builders themselves to slowly transform a small building into a high-rise apartment with about 3-10 floors (the highest even 18 floors) through a process of tinkering that lasts for decades. The adjacent spacing of the original homestead was only about 1-2 meters, and neighbors could even shake hands with each other by opening the windows, so when these high-density high-rise buildings were close together, they looked like airtight “handshake buildings”. The infrastructure of the handshake building, including sewers, electricity and communication facilities, is constantly in the process of being upgraded, and villagers need to update the infrastructure in a timely manner to adapt to the rental market.

▼In the 1980s, a typical rural house，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Handshake Buildings, Shixia Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

Illegal Constructions

There are about 300,000 handshake buildings in Shenzhen, with a total construction area of nearly 200 million square meters, and most of them are illegal buildings, because their additions and renovations have not obtained legal approval procedures. The main reason is that the local government “acquiesced” to this huge amount of illegal construction, because the construction cost of handshake buildings is low, and the types are rich, with strong market adaptability, which virtually provides a huge scale of low-cost rental housing for the entire city.

In the process of long-term illegal construction, villagers often do it themselves, design and construct by themselves, think while doing, and change while doing, this process of addition, subtraction, tinkering and repairing is full of bricolage architecture wisdom, such as: try to use the cheap materials that can be found at hand, as well as the most common construction technology, at any time to add or transform some temporary structures as needed, including stairs, roof sheds, small terraces, and even some interesting landscapes. They are all created freely by the villagers. In addition, the villagers will make the most of the extremely small homestead to accommodate the needs of family development at different times, and this pragmatic construction concept and method allows materials, structures and infrastructure to be very straightforward, thereby creating a temporal feature like an archaeological formation, thus turning the urban village into a real historical heritage.

▼Baishizhou Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Ancient Fair -Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

Arrival City

The urban village is like a huge “reservoir”, welcoming hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year to the megalopolis of Shenzhen in search of new job opportunities. Due to the low rents, although the space and population density of urban villages are very high, people still like to use them as the first place to stay. Urban villages offer very convenient and inexpensive living infrastructure, from grocery stores, snack shops, pharmacies, clothing stores, beauty salons, wet markets, to McDonald’s and Starbucks. On the other hand, urban villages also play the role of industrial incubators, and even some small processing plants and innovative scientific and technological research and development institutions can be located in urban villages, such as Shenzhen’s many world-influential technology companies, including Huawei, Tencent and DJI, which actually started from urban villages.

In a sense, an urban village equals a arrival city. Whether they are cleaners, taxi drivers, assembly line workers, programmers, designers, artists, and university students, they all love urban villages, because urban villages are not only temporary places to live, but also attractive spaces for daily life. The urban village opposes all rigid modernist ideas of functional zoning, and buildings, both spatially and functionally, must be highly adaptable to changes in the external environment, because cities are developing so rapidly.

▼Nantou Ancient City -Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Nantou Ancient City -Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

Quasi-rural Communities

Although the urban village is located in the center of the city, it still retains the characteristics of many rural settlements, because it is inhabited by a large number of aborigines. These aborigines, who were previously farmers, later, when the countryside was transformed into an urban village, the aborigines no longer engaged in agricultural production, but relied on renting out their private residential properties to make a living. For example, the entire village is often based on the family, collectively deciding the economic development and daily management of the village, during the New Year and festivals, the villagers will carry out ancestor worship activities in accordance with traditional customs, many material heritage with local characteristics (ancestral halls, temples, etc.), as well as intangible cultural heritage (lion dance, Cantonese opera, etc.), are also generally preserved and continued, allowing people to feel the unique social customs of urban villages at any time.

Perhaps infected by the daily life of the aborigines, the daily life of many immigrants also subtly follows the behavior of traditional rural society, for example, a large banyan tree at the entrance of the village often becomes people’s favorite place for leisure and communication, where immigrants from everywhere chat with their fellow villagers in the local dialect, which has become the most interesting scenery in many urban villages.

▼Nantou Ancient City -Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shixia Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

ARCity Office：The 20 Principles of Bricolage Architecture

01 Minimal Intervention, Maximum Value

All practical projects of ARCity Office take place in urban villages in Shenzhen. Here, we have adopted the ” tinkerers ” style of work because it is very suitable for the reality of urban villages. Bricolage architecture emphasizes a design strategy of “minimal intervention, maximum value,” which respects the current situation with minimal interference while creating the greatest value at the lowest cost. This strategy not only shows respect for old buildings but also embodies pragmatism. On the one hand, minimal intervention is reflected in using only necessary technical measures for reinforcement, repair, and the insertion of new structures, while maintaining the status quo as much as possible, i.e., “do not add entities unless necessary”; on the other hand, maximum value is reflected in the extreme exploitation and utilization of existing resources and leaving the greatest possibility for future development. This process is full of ancient wisdom of “making the best use of everything and achieving great things with small means,” thus making it suitable for adaptive reuse in a broad sense.

For example, in the “Shajing Ruin Garden” project, architects cleverly utilized a ruin and a public toilet by adding a large step and an aerial corridor system. This move created exciting site value: children discovered an interesting playground here, more people were able to enjoy the beautiful rooftop views of the surrounding old buildings, and they genuinely fell in love with this place.

▼Shajing Ruin Garden，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Ruin Garden，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼Shajing Ruin Garden，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Ruin Garden，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Ruin Garden，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Ruin Garden，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

02 Mixing the Old and New，Old Trees Sprout New Sprouts

From the moment a building is born, it begins to undergo a continuous process of renewal and decay. From the outside, the overall form of the building may not appear to have changed significantly, but in subtle ways, the transition between new and old states is actually happening every moment. We hope to create a certain mixed state of new and old through design, which is a mutual generation of the new and the old. The phenomenon of “old trees sprouting new buds” is a typical example of this—a process where old trunks continually grow new branches and leaves, and these new branches gradually accumulate to become part of the old trunk. In the sustainable renewal where new and old give rise to each other, the key point is that both the new and the old inherently possess authentic temporal information. True time is irrecoverable, unforgeable, inimitable, and irreconstructible. Therefore, the only way is to preserve unconditionally in its original state.

For example, the “Urban Village Gallery” project, this weathered handshake building itself has become a cultural heritage. The architects highly respect its heritage value and attempt to transform this ordinary self-built house by villagers into an object of aesthetic observation and appreciation.

▼Urban Village Gallery, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Urban Village Gallery, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Urban Village Gallery, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

03 Transforming Constraints into Creativity

ARCity Office thinks and acts like a “tinkerer,” believing that patching is a clever way to connect the complex elements of reality. This cautious response to complex realities does not prioritize aesthetic qualities but rather uses the logic of spatial generation as the foundation of the entire design. Of course, the form of bricolage architecture can also be very attractive, but the shaping of the form does not come at the expense of its inherent logic. In urban villages, due to their unique ultra-high-density characteristics, almost all spatial forms are the result of being “squeezed” by various boundary conditions, and villagers seem to have long adapted to this, trying to cope with all the nearly harsh constraints with the simplest wisdom.

Abandoning specific forms or styles, ARCity Office’s many adaptive reuse practices in Shenzhen’s urban villages give the first impression of having no exaggerated forms or self-expression, and even actively seeking out those constraints that are considered “hard nuts to crack” and attempting to transform them into sources of inspiration. For example, in the “My Dormitory” project, the architects continued the natural growth process of this building, replacing the existing illegal structures with new spaces while injecting new functions, thereby revitalizing this severely deteriorated old building. Throughout the process, the original spatial composition logic was not altered but transformed into the creative key of the new design.

▼My Dormitory（before transformation）,Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼My Dormitory（before transformation）,Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼My Dormitory（before transformation）,Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼My Dormitory（before transformation）,Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼My Dormitory（before transformation）,Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

04 Transforming the Ordinary into Extraordinary

In recent years, as we have placed more emphasis on sustainability, a large number of “ordinary buildings” with little historical value have become the main objects of adaptive reuse. ARCity Office is particularly interested in mundane and anonymous buildings because these ordinary, unremarkable general-purpose buildings are precisely the free spaces frequently used in people’s daily lives and the places with the most vibrant life atmosphere. Focusing on mundane and anonymous buildings means that architects need to abandon their attachment to the established aesthetics of modernism, deeply explore all the potential of existing buildings and places, and use this exploration as the sole guide for creation.

Embracing the mundane does not mean giving up high standards of design and creativity. On the contrary, it places higher demands on architects. In a certain sense, architects need to master a kind of “transformation” ability to discover exciting beauty in the most ordinary daily life spaces and, through a method of retaining the true essence while removing the false, eliminate some superfluous elements in complex real-life scenarios to reveal the authentic beauty of daily life. This process can be called “transforming the ordinary into extraordinary.” For example, in the “Wutong Community Center” project, the first and second floors of a self-built house by villagers were transformed into a mini living room, a Lions Club, and a Cantonese opera club, instantly bringing new life to an otherwise ordinary place.

▼Wutong Community Center, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Wutong Community Center, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

05 Weaving Basic Architectural Elements

The machine-like monotony, indifference, and uniformity of modernist cities and architecture stem from the highly standardized design and construction systems behind them. This powerful system controls almost all cities and buildings around the world, with only a few exceptions—one of which is the urban villages. Contrary to the modernist system, almost all farmer houses and handshake buildings in urban villages are the result of illegal construction. This “collective illegality” involving hundreds of thousands of indigenous residents constitutes the most controversial part of Shenzhen. Learning from illegal construction is about learning the villagers’ spontaneous resistance to the modernist system. Although the resistance itself is not entirely justified, the wisdom contained therein is worth pondering repeatedly.

One of the displayed wisdoms is that villagers subvert the complete architectural concept during the construction process by disassembling buildings into basic architectural elements such as roofs, floors, walls, doors, and windows, and then adaptively assembling these elements according to actual needs. ARCity Office has observed this phenomenon and attempts to actively apply this principle in design. For example, in the “Modified House” project, we designed a set of traditional tile roof systems supported by I-beam structures. These function like a set of basic architectural elements inserted into the self-built houses of villagers, forming a series of charming areas covered by traditional tile roofs.

▼Modified House, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Modified House, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Modified House, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼Modified House, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

06 Using Simple Construction Techniques

In urban villages, villagers are adept at constructing houses using low-cost, low-tech methods. They continuously build and renovate houses until a high-rise handshake building is completely finished. The intermittent construction process, which can last for several years or even over a decade, resembles the growth of a tree. This reflects the core principle of patchwork architecture: low cost and low technology are not constraints on spatial growth but rather incentives for creativity. In urban villages, due to the very narrow sites, villagers can only adopt a patchwork approach. Another benefit of low-tech construction is that, due to the low technical threshold, many local workers from the urban villages can be directly recruited to the construction site, helping them find employment locally.

The ARCity Office attempts to learn from these low-cost, low-tech construction methods but imbues them with more originality. We replace the light steel structures often used by villagers with more mature, safe, and durable steel structure systems, eliminating safety hazards. Hybrid structures composed of clay bricks, I-beams, concrete, and traditional bamboo and wood materials are also frequently adopted. For instance, the “Longjin Pavilion” and “Old House Exhibition Box” projects use inexpensive building structures and were constructed by local workers in a short period. Since the projects are right at their doorstep, as local residents, the workers themselves also enjoy these interesting places and frequently use them.

▼Longjin Pavilion，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Longjin Pavilion，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Old House Exhibition Box，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Old House Exhibition Box，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

07 Using Handy Building Materials

The tinkerers often use common or old materials，ordinary people, such as residents of urban villages, can easily obtain them through general sales and logistics channels. These common building materials include clay bricks, mosaic tiles, pebble-washed stone, PVC pipes, I-beams, corrugated steel sheets, plastic panels, polycarbonate sheets, steel pipe scaffolding, bamboo flooring, self-leveling cement, and second-hand building materials left over from nearby house demolitions. Their combination constitutes the most universal material language of urban villages. When villagers use these common and readily available building materials, they do so without professional guidance, often incorporating personal, family, and neighboring social group preferences. This makes the details of urban villages extraordinarily rich and colorful. In a sense, although these handy materials all come from various modern factories, their combination by the villagers creates a certain “quasi-regionalism.”

The ARCity Office discovered that the quasi-regionalism, while different from true regionalism, is still very charming. Architects can proactively use this principle to design attractive spaces. For example, in the “Village Stage” project, we collected some second-hand building materials from nearby areas, such as old wooden boards and old blue bricks, and combined them to create a public space that is loved by both young and old, locals and tourists alike.

The ARCity Office attempts to learn from these low-cost, low-tech construction methods but imbues them with more originality. We replace the light steel structures often used by villagers with more mature, safe, and durable steel structure systems, eliminating safety hazards. Hybrid structures composed of clay bricks, I-beams, concrete, and traditional bamboo and wood materials are also frequently adopted. For instance, the “Longjin Pavilion” and “Old House Exhibition Box” projects use inexpensive building structures and were constructed by local workers in a short period. Since the projects are right at their doorstep, as local residents, the workers themselves also enjoy these interesting places and frequently use them.

▼Village Stage，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Village Stage，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Village Stage，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Village Stage，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

08 Partial Renovation and Partial Construction

In the adaptive reuse of old buildings, partial renovation is not just a method but a fundamental principle: “part is whole,” just as “less is more.”

In urban villages, we often find villagers acting like tinkerers, frequently making partial renovations to handshake buildings—reinforcing a balcony today, repairing a roof tomorrow. The benefit of partial renovation is that it allows for gradual upgrades to the building without needing to suspend its use (since handshake buildings are rented out daily to generate profit). This process can be termed “micro-upgrading.”

Partial renovation and micro-upgrading mean that during construction, partial construction methods must be employed, akin to “minimally invasive surgery” in medicine. This involves a series of techniques, including partial inspection, partial reinforcement, partial cutting, partial demolition, partial addition, and so forth. For example, in the “My Dormitory” project, partial cutting and partial reinforcement were used during construction. Concrete was re-poured into cut-open floor slab openings to enhance the mechanical performance of the slabs, beams, and columns. The entire construction scope was limited to only a few rooms, without affecting the normal use of other parts of the building.

▼My Dormitory（under construction）, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼My Dormitory（under construction）, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

09 Secondary Decomposition of Sturdiness

Within the framework of modernist architecture, when we discuss “sturdiness,” we typically assume that buildings must be complete, precise, and indestructible solids without any slightest defect or damage. This concept inevitably leads to the following outcome: from skyscrapers to factories, modern architecture tends to become a solid fortress against time. It is necessary to establish a new definition of sturdiness, transitioning from “absolute sturdiness” to “relative sturdiness” — for instance, certain entities, spaces, components, and materials have higher relative sturdiness, while others have lower relative sturdiness. The secondary decomposition of sturdiness refers to the premise that the design logic of a building considers patchwork from the beginning, anticipating that different parts of the building may exhibit states different from their initial conditions due to differences in relative sturdiness during future adaptive reuse processes.

For example, in the “Shajing Village Hall” project, after evaluating the relative sturdiness of different components such as concrete columns, steel trusses, brick walls, and glass windows, we proposed different treatment methods such as reinforcement, repair, retention, and replacement. Based on maximizing the potential of the old building, we selectively inserted new functions, new components, and new materials., which produced an excellent integration effect between the old and the new: the “old” was preserved in a better state, and the “new” was welcomed with a more relaxed attitude.

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

10 Spontaneous Disruption of Symmetry

Modernist cities and modernist architecture, symbolized by machines, almost invariably exhibit characteristics of symmetry. This symmetry originates from top-down centralized control forces and is manifested in several ways: emphasizing single functions in terms of utility, favoring Gestalt geometry in form, and requiring one-time completion in construction. All these factors contribute to highly efficient mechanized production. On the other hand, urban villages, characterized by a patchwork logic, are based on the spontaneous disruption of symmetry, which arise from bottom-up decentralized forces and exhibit the following features: emphasizing mixed functions in terms of utility, favoring non-Gestalt geometry and fractal geometry in form, and encouraging long-term completion with repeated extensions, renovations, and repairs in construction.

In urban villages, top-down centralized control forces still exist but the spontaneous breakdown of symmetry can occur at any time. In a sense, an urban village is akin to a tree; it appears symmetrical as a whole but loses symmetry when viewed in parts. The formation of symmetry and its spontaneous disruption phenomena are ubiquitous at different spatiotemporal scales. Architects can utilize these principles to design interesting spaces with inherent characteristics of urban villages. For example, the “Wutong Community Center” project aligns its roofing construction logic with that of villagers’ self-built houses as much as possible.

▼Wutong Community Center, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

11 Porous Morphology: Inserting Mini Public Spaces

Modernist cities and architecture are often filled with grand narratives, from straight and wide sidewalks to expansive squares, from immaculate green lawns to gleaming shopping centers, all defined as “public spaces.” However, a strange paradox is that the larger and more refined an open space appears, the less attractive and even more boring it tends to be. Conversely, smaller and more cluttered places tend to be more vibrant. For example, when we walk into an inner street of an urban village, we find various interesting mini public spaces everywhere in the depths of the alleys: it could be the shaded area under a large banyan tree, or a small square in front of a grocery store. In fact, these mini public spaces are the natural result of bricolage, as bricolage implies a proper relaxation of strict structures, creating porous forms. These tiny pores can accommodate various activities at any time, thus generating publicness.

ARCity Office found that inserting a series of mini public spaces can make the space more relaxed and charming. For instance, the “Platform Market” project is located on the ground floor of a massive handshake building. The four rooms along the street were originally shops and warehouses for villagers to store sundries, which were dark and closed off, making the street space lifeless. We transformed them into a complex space for selling and displaying second-hand items from the urban village and inserted a set of public platforms open to the street in the shop entrance area. This opened up the entire street space, making it brighter.

▼Platform Market, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Platform Market, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Platform Market, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

12 To-be-completed State: Expandable Space

In urban villages, there are many self-built houses by villagers that look like “unfinished buildings,” which often remain in a “to be completed state” for a long time. Exposed brick walls, staircases, and concrete frame structures, unfinished roofs, and even scaffolding that has not been dismantled create a wild natural scene reminiscent of a tropical rainforest: under tall trees, many small trees are just sprouting and emerging from the ground, some are half-grown, all are in a state of growth. Some trees are withering, indicating they are heading towards decay.

In fact, the vast majority of the handshake buildings in urban villages that are in a to-be-completed state are the result of careful planning and pre-setting by the villagers. These buildings typically belong to expandable spaces that can enter a state of additional construction or renovation at any time. Some temporary constructions and activities can also occur within them. The ARCity Office believes that this construction strategy of villagers can be used as a reference in both adaptive reuse and new construction projects, as it reveals the long-term development wisdom inherent in bricolage architecture. For example, in the “Shajing Village Hall” project, we created a unique garden that appears to be in a to-be-completed state, enveloped by exposed frame structures, with stairs, steps, and corridors interspersed among them. Due to its expandability, various interesting activities can take place inside, including wild grasses quietly taking root.

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Shajing Village Hall, Shajing Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

13 Reverse Construction: A Ruin-like Space

bricolage is a process of “addition” and “subtraction.” A good tinkerer must be adept at handling both addition and subtraction. Subtraction is not merely the reduction of objects and spatial loss; it can create more value through clever reduction. For example, ruins are a state of reverse construction that is constantly weathering, collapsing, and reducing. Due to their temporal characteristics, they appear particularly moving. Today, the concepts of low material consumption and low energy consumption associated with the aesthetics of ruins align perfectly with the principles of sustainable design, which emphasize reduction, recycling, and reuse. Therefore, ruin has the potential to transcend aesthetic significance and become a method of value creation.

ARCity Office attempts to use reverse construction methods to create ruin-like spaces. For instance, in the “Qiaotou Ruin Garden” project, the site was originally a two-story high-standard industrial plant that the owner intended to completely demolish and convert into a lawn and parking lot. The architect used a cutting method to remove parts of the floor, roof, and walls while retaining the building framework intact, then planted bamboo to transform it into a public space that lies between architecture, ruins, and garden. This unique landscape cost $100,000 and took only 40 days to complete. Upon completion, it was immediately loved by people because its new aesthetic of sustainable design is so exciting.

▼Qiaotou Ruin Garden, Qiaotou Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Qiaotou Ruin Garden, Qiaotou Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Qiaotou Ruin Garden, Qiaotou Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Qiaotou Ruin Garden, Qiaotou Urban Village, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

14 Bricolage: Formal Space + Informal Space

In the long-term practice of sustainable architecture, ARCity Office has proposed a new concept called the “A+B Model.” This model aims to integrate inherently contradictory elements such as formal and informal spaces, urban and rural areas, and historical heritage and modern life, much like the ancient Chinese tangram puzzle, to form compatible spatial paradigms. Formal spaces (A) are all the spatial practices, spatial productions, and conceptualized spaces we can see within the systems of modernist cities and modernist architecture, characterized by a high degree of systematization, standardization, and regulation. In contrast, informal spaces (B) are characterized by anti-systematization, anti-standardization, and anti-regulation. Urban villages in Shenzhen are typical examples of informal spaces. Although informal spaces may appear disordered and chaotic, they possess great flexibility and compatibility, thus can be defined as a unique type of sustainable space.

Architects can combine formal and informal spaces to create compatible spaces. For example, in the “Gable House” project, we carried out a minor facade renovation of a villager’s mahjong parlor, giving it a dramatic effect while activating the lifeless outdoor public space. This measure was widely praised by the villagers.

▼Gable House，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Gable House，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

15 Bricolage: Mixed Functions + Diverse Populations

Urban villages naturally exhibit functional diversity and hybridity. A handshake building may simultaneously house small factories, residences, tea restaurants, clinics, karaoke rooms, and other functions, much like a miniature city. This mixed functionality is not necessarily the result of deliberate planning by the villagers, but it objectively enhances the adaptability of the handshake buildings. For the villagers, as long as they can rent out the space at a reasonable price, almost any use will be accepted. A continuous iteration of functions and replacement of uses is key to maintaining the sustainable development of urban villages. On the other hand, the social identity of the users is also worth noting. The same functions and uses may correspond to different user identities, and ignoring the issue of community symbiosis could disrupt the original social structure of the urban village, leading to implicit conflicts between different communities, with one group encroaching upon, squeezing, and driving out another group’s living space. Therefore, maximum inclusivity for diverse populations is always the foundational value for the existence of urban villages.

We hope to design and create a “sustainable society,” which represents respect from one community to another, as well as symbiosis between communities. For example, in the “My Dormitory” project, living, office, and exhibition functions are mixed together, each corresponding to specific user groups, including couriers, NGOs, and artists, reflecting a form of social inclusivity.

▼My Dormitory, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼My Dormitory, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼My Dormitory, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼My Dormitory, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

16 Bricolage: Real-Life Scenes + Heritage Fragments

Today, heritage is no longer just a historical topic but a contemporary one. Almost all urban areas can be defined as a mixture of real-life scenes and heritage fragments, although the temporal information contained in these heritage fragments varies. This phenomenon is particularly prominent in the urban villages of Shenzhen, where handshake buildings from different eras have undergone repeated renovations, additions, and repairs. These cannot be simply defined as complete heritage units of a certain era. However, from another perspective, perhaps some heritage-related, localized fragments of time and space, such as an old wall or a long-standing illegal small house, are also worth paying attention to.

In view of this, ARCity Office has proposed the concept of “bricolage heritage,” which no longer seeks the completeness of heritage units but aims to combine all fragments of time and space with heritage attributes through new designs to create an experiential heritage scene. This heritage scene is both a heritage environment and a heritage object; it is both historical heritage and urban village heritage; it is both a protected, authentic heritage site and a real-life scene filled with everyday life. For instance, the “City Wall Heritage Workshop” project is located above the ruins of the ancient city wall, adjacent to the archaeological site of the moat. The architects used bricolage architecture methods to shape it into a place that is both vibrant and charming.

▼City Wall Heritage Workshop, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼City Wall Heritage Workshop, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼City Wall Heritage Workshop, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼City Wall Heritage Workshop, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼City Wall Heritage Workshop, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

17 Bricolage: Grid System + Heterogeneous Elements

If we closely observe a handshake building in an urban village, we will find that it adopts a very standard grid system, completely consistent with Le Corbusier’s Maison Dom-ino. Further magnifying the scale, the entire urban village also employs a similar grid system. However, why is the heterogeneity presented by handshake buildings and urban villages so impressive? Because they incorporate a large number of heterogeneous elements. This simple bricolage method is worth learning.

For instance, in the “Yishan Pinnacle Flagship Store” project, ARCity Office inserted a complete “space plug-in system” into the standardized modular space to create heterogeneity. It is an independent grid composed of recycled old wooden columns and beams, along with two rammed earth walls made from locally recycled soil. The size of this grid is 3 meters by 3 meters, conforming to the commonly used dimensions of traditional timber and the comfortable scale for human use. It is placed within 6 meters by 6 meters concrete column grid system, forming a juxtaposition of two grid systems. In fact, in the traditional wooden structure system of local Hakka dwellings, the column grid’s size is also approximately 3 meters by 3 meters. The architects hope to explore a more abstract presentation of traditional architectural forms, allowing people to appreciate that even the simple juxtaposition of two grids of different scales and materials, along with the addition of some heterogeneous elements, can produce a clever bricolage effect.

▼Yishan Pinnacle Flagship Store, Pingshan, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Yishan Pinnacle Flagship Store, Pingshan, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Yishan Pinnacle Flagship Store, Pingshan, Shenzhen, China ©ARCity Office

▼Yishan Pinnacle Flagship Store, Pingshan, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

18 Bricolage: Inorganic Object + Organic Life

In the eyes of the barbarians, everything has a spirit! A mountain, a rock, a building, even a pillar or a wall, are all living entities with souls, just like plants and animals. Buildings and trees can be put together because there is essentially no difference between them. Therefore, the field of work for architects has been greatly expanded, not only to include building houses but also to consider the integration of inorganic objects with organic life, thereby creating soulful hybrids.

For instance, the “Longan Tree House” project is an interesting case where a villager created a fusion of inorganic objects and organic life through piecing together: a lush wild longan tree grew freely on the ancient city wall ruins. Later, villagers began to build houses on the ruins, gradually enclosing the trunk of the longan tree within the house. Thus, this small farmhouse became the Longan Tree House. Due to the long-term lack of sunlight, the longan tree looked like a patient, with peeling bark and withered branches. We accidentally discovered this tree house and hoped to intervene appropriately to improve the habitat of the longan tree. The following measures were taken: cutting away parts of the floor and walls to expose the trunk of the longan tree to fresh air again. In less than a month, new buds started to grow on the dry trunk, and the tree house became vibrant. When we are inside, we immediately feel the hidden spirituality of this space.

▼Longan Tree House, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Longan Tree House, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

19 Bricolage: Daily Life + Spiritual Places

“Everything has a spirit,” perhaps this is the key to transforming a mundane everyday place into a spiritual one. Without understanding this, it is difficult to appreciate the charm of bricolage and bricolage architecture. Bricolage is not only the work and mindset of primitive people but also their fundamental concept of understanding nature and the universe. The process by which they use old materials at hand to create new things is a continuation of both the functionality and the spirit of those things. In this sense, a bricolage place, as a blend of everyday life and a spiritual space, silently conveys spirituality to every corner of daily life and extends to every moment in the historical cycle. Unfortunately, the cold modernist cities and buildings have completely lost their function as spiritual places. Perhaps, we do not necessarily need to build one grand temple or church after another; we just need to insert bricolage places like “wedges” to reshape our spiritual world.

For example, in the “Wutong Street Temple” project, the architect led villagers to use traditional local craftsmanship to rebuild an ancient earth temple that was close to collapsing. Although the commercial street in the surrounding urban village is bustling with activity, this small temple located at the street corner appears exceptionally quiet and peaceful, filled with divinity. We found that the rebuilt small temple is so welcoming to everyone. Passersby on the roadside can enter the small temple at any time to quietly converse with the spirits and their own hearts.

▼Wutong Street Temple, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Wutong Street Temple, Nantou Ancient City, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

20 Bricolage: Artificial Landscapes + Natural Wilderness

Bricolage as a new concept applies not only to architecture but also to landscapes. In a sense, “bricolage landscape” is a resistance to the overly artificial landscapes prevalent in modernist cities. Hardened urban grounds, rigid riverbanks, stiff land boundaries, monotonous plant populations, lifeless parks, and neatly trimmed lawns… these overly artificial landscapes are examples of human over-control of nature. The bricolage of landscapes and architecture, much like the creations of villagers in urban villages, is full of wisdom—nature itself, like barbarians, possesses a certain patchwork mentality.

A bricolage landscape is a mixture of artificial landscapes and natural wilderness. It requires partial “de-artificialization” or “weak artificialization” of rigid artificial landscapes to accommodate even the smallest scales of wild plants, wild animals, wild forests, wild rivers, wild soils, etc., thereby bringing buildings, roads, rivers, parks, and other elements closer to the wilderness. In this way, nature will re-enter urban daily life in a wild and vibrant form because the wilderness itself is the most experienced tinkerer. For example, in the “Longjin River Regeneration” project, we used low-cost “rainwater and sewage separation” technology to restore a severely polluted river. By reshaping the riverbanks, we secured a tiny bit of habitat for wild plants in the narrow spaces squeezed by roads, bringing vitality back to the river.

▼Longjin River Regeneration，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Longjin River Regeneration，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Longjin River Regeneration，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

▼Longjin River Regeneration，Shajing Ancient Fair, Shenzhen, China ©Bai yu

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